Legal claims defining the scope of protection. Each claim is shown in both the original legal language and a plain English translation.
1. Information processing equipment comprising: a CPU; and a memory device which is connected to the CPU, wherein the memory device comprising: a first memory unit which stores information identifying a plurality of storage units included in storage equipment, attributes characterizing the storage units, contents of responses of the storage units to commands required for initialization processing for initializing the storage units, and information concerning initialization; a second memory unit which stores time when each of commands that are not needed for the initialization processing is issued to the storage units for the first time among commands to the storage units; a third memory unit which stores a copy of information stored in the second memory unit at the end of the initialization processing; and a fourth memory unit which stores commands to be issued to the storage units in the initialization processing, the commands being sorted in accordance with the time stored in the third memory unit; and the CPU executing operations comprising: operating as a proxy response processing unit, a delay processing unit and a control unit, wherein as the proxy response processing unit, outputs a content of a response corresponding to each of the commands to the storage units, the content of the response being stored in the first memory unit; as the delay processing unit, outputs a command stored in the fourth memory unit to the storage units, receives a content of a response from each of the storage units, determines whether or not there is a difference between the received content of the response and the content of the response of the storage unit stored in the first memory unit, wherein when there is a difference, updates the content of the response stored in the first memory unit, when there is not a difference, does not update the content of the response stored in the first memory unit, and sets a value indicating an initialized state in a check flag column which stores data indicating a state of initialization of each of the storage units; and as the control unit, connects to a server unit including an OS program which sends commands directed to the storage units and receives contents of responses from the storage units, starts the initialization processing in response to start of the initialization processing by the OS program, as the initialization processing, sets a value indicating an uninitialized state in the check flag column, when receiving a command directed to the storage unit from the OS program, stores the command in the fourth memory unit in an order stored in the third memory unit, determines whether or not the command is an initialization command, when the command is the initialization command, sends the command to the proxy response processing unit, receives a content of a response from the proxy response processing unit, and sends the content of the response back to the OS program, when the command is not the initialization command, sends the command to one of the storage units and stores time when the command is received in the second memory unit, when the control unit receives a content of a response to the OS program from the storage unit, sends the content of the response to the delay processing unit, after the end of the initialization processing, copies the content stored in the second memory unit to the third memory unit, and after copying the content, switches the operation as the control unit to an operation for directly mediating the commands from server equipment to the storage units and the contents of responses from the storage units to the server equipment.
Information processing equipment manages storage unit initialization. It has a CPU and memory. The memory stores information about storage units, their attributes, responses to initialization commands, and initialization details. It also stores timestamps of non-initialization commands, copies of these timestamps after initialization, and initialization commands sorted by those timestamps. The CPU acts as a proxy, delay, and control unit. The proxy returns pre-stored responses for initialization commands. The delay unit executes initialization commands, compares actual responses to stored responses, updates stored responses if different, and sets an initialization flag if the responses match. The control unit starts initialization upon OS request, stores commands in a queue, using the proxy for initialization commands, and later mediates commands directly between a server and storage units after copying the non-initialization command timestamps and responses.
2. The information processing equipment according to claim 1 , wherein the control unit includes a command list including the initialization command.
The information processing equipment described above also incorporates a command list containing the initialization commands within the control unit, streamlining the initialization process by providing a dedicated source for these specific commands. This allows the control unit to readily identify and process initialization commands separately from other types of commands directed to the storage units. This helps improve the efficiency of the initialization process and reduce processing overhead.
3. The information processing equipment according to claim 1 , wherein the delay processing unit, after sending the command stored in the fourth memory unit to the storage units and deletes the command from the fourth memory unit.
In the information processing equipment as described above, the delay processing unit removes each command from the fourth memory unit (initialization command queue) after sending it to the storage units. This prevents the same initialization command from being sent multiple times, ensuring a correct and efficient initialization process. This cleanup process also frees up space in the fourth memory unit for subsequent initialization tasks.
4. The information processing equipment according to claim 1 , wherein at least the first memory unit and the third memory unit are non-transitory storage media.
In the information processing equipment as described above, at least the first memory unit (storage unit information, attributes, responses) and the third memory unit (copied non-initialization command timestamps) are implemented using non-transitory storage media (e.g., solid-state drives, hard drives), ensuring data persistence even when the equipment is powered off. This guarantees that critical storage unit configuration and initialization data is retained for subsequent use.
5. An information processing method for information processing equipment, the information processing equipment comprising: a CPU; and a memory device which is connected to the CPU, wherein the information processing method using the memory device as: a first memory unit which stores information identifying a plurality of storage units included in storage equipment, attributes characterizing the storage units, contents of responses of the storage units to commands required for initialization processing for initializing the storage units, and information concerning initialization; a second memory unit which stores time when each of commands that are not needed for the initialization processing is issued to the storage units for the first time among commands to the storage units; a third memory unit which stores a copy of information stored in the second memory unit at the end of the initialization processing; and a fourth memory unit which stores commands to be issued to the storage units in the initialization processing, the commands being sorted in accordance with the time stored in the third memory unit; and the information processing method causing the CPU to execute the operations of: (a) outputting a content of a response corresponding to each of the commands to the storage units, the content of the response being stored in the first memory unit; (b) outputting a command stored in the fourth memory unit to the storage units; (c) receiving a content of a response from each of the storage units, and determining whether or not there is a difference between the received content of the response and the content of the response of the storage unit stored in the first memory unit; (d) when there is a difference, updating the content of the response stored in the first memory unit; when there is not a difference, not updating the content of the response stored in the first memory unit; and (e) setting a value indicating an initialized state in a check flag column which stores data indicating a state of initialization of each of the storage units; and (f) connecting to a server unit including an OS program which sends commands directed to the storage units and receives contents of responses from the storage units; (g) starting the initialization processing in response to start of the initialization processing by the OS program; and as the initialization processing, (g-1) setting a value indicating an uninitialized state in the check flag column; (g-2) when receiving a command directed to the storage unit from the OS program, storing the command in the fourth memory unit in an order stored in the third memory unit; determining whether or not the command is an initialization command; when the command is the initialization command, sending the content of the response stored in the first memory unit back to the OS program; when the command is not the initialization command, sending the command to one of the storage units and storing time when the control unit received the command in the second memory unit; (h) after the end of the initialization processing, copying the content stored in the second memory unit to the third memory unit; and after copying the content, directly mediating commands to server equipment and the storage units and the content of responses from the storage units to the server equipment.
An information processing method for initializing storage units using a CPU and memory. The memory stores information about storage units, their attributes, initialization command responses, and initialization details. It also stores timestamps of non-initialization commands, copies of these timestamps after initialization, and initialization commands sorted by these timestamps. The method involves: (a) outputting pre-stored responses for initialization commands; (b) executing queued initialization commands; (c) comparing actual responses to stored responses; (d) updating stored responses if different; (e) setting an initialization flag if responses match; (f) connecting to a server; (g) starting initialization upon OS request and (g-1) setting the uninitialized flag; (g-2) storing OS commands in a queue, using pre-stored responses for initialization commands, and storing the timestamp for non-initialization commands; (h) copying the non-initialization timestamp and then directly mediating commands to the server and storage units.
6. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a program, the program causing information processing equipment, which comprising: a CPU; and a memory device which is connected to the CPU, to perform a method, the method using the memory device as: a first memory unit which stores information identifying a plurality of storage units included in storage equipment, attributes characterizing the storage units, contents of responses of the storage units to commands required for initialization processing for initializing the storage units, and information concerning initialization; a second memory unit which stores time when each of commands that are not needed for the initialization processing is issued to the storage units for the first time among command to the storage units; a third memory unit which stores a copy of information stored in the second memory unit at the end of the initialization processing; and a fourth memory unit which stores commands to be issued to the storage units in the initialization processing, the commands being sorted in accordance with the time stored in the third memory unit; and the method causing the CPU to execute the operations of: (a) outputting a content of a response corresponding to each of the commands to the storage units, the content of the response being stored in the first memory unit; (b) outputting a command stored in the fourth memory unit to the storage units; (c) receiving a content of a response from each of the storage units, and determining whether or not there is a difference between the received content of the response and the content of the response of the storage unit stored in the first memory unit; (d) when there is a difference, updating the content of the response stored in the first memory unit; when there is not a difference, not updating the content of the response stored in the first memory unit; and (e) setting a value indicating an initialized state in a check flag column which stores data indicating a state of initialization of each of the storage units; and (f) connecting to a server unit including an OS program which sends commands directed to the storage units and receives contents of responses from the storage units; (g) starting the initialization processing in response to start of the initialization processing by the OS program; and as the initialization processing, (g-1) setting a value indicating an uninitialized state in the check flag column; (g-2) when receiving a command directed to the storage unit from the OS program, storing the command in the fourth memory unit in an order stored in the third memory unit; determining whether or not the command is an initialization command; when the command is the initialization command, sending the content of the response stored in the first memory unit back to the OS program; when the command is not the initialization command, sending the command to one of the storage units and storing time when the control unit received the command in the second memory unit; (h) after the end of the initialization processing, copying the content stored in the second memory unit to the third memory unit; and after copying the content, directly mediating commands to server equipment and the storage units and the content of responses from the storage units to the server equipment.
A non-transitory computer-readable medium stores a program for initializing storage units. The program, when executed, configures a CPU and memory to: store information about storage units, their attributes, initialization command responses, and initialization details; store timestamps of non-initialization commands, copies of those timestamps; and store initialization commands sorted by the timestamps. The program performs the method of: (a) outputting pre-stored responses; (b) executing queued commands; (c) comparing actual and stored responses; (d) updating stored responses if different; (e) setting the initialization flag; (f) connecting to a server; (g) starting initialization upon OS request, setting uninitialized flag, queuing OS commands, providing responses for initialization commands, storing non-initialization timestamps, (h) copying non-initialization timestamps, then mediating the command process.
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December 5, 2017
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